Second Partnership and Dementia Care in a Blended Family: Case Study of a Wicked Problem.

Dementia care research has largely ignored the challenges that may emerge from couple and family dynamics, especially about second partnerships in blended families. This paper details the case of a 79-year-old man, Hannes, in his second partnership who tried to handle the complexities of his wife's dementia care as her children and healthcare providers discounted his role as husband and decision maker. He faced difficult communications with family members and challenges to his role as decision maker by healthcare providers and legal system professionals.

Lost in Transition: Community-Dwelling Partners' Stories of Losing a Spouse to Cognitive Decline and Long-Term Care Facilities.

This qualitative narrative study presents three stories told by older community-dwelling partners to spouses moving into long-term care facilities because of cognitive decline. Applying Alvesson and Kärreman's mystery method to these stories reveals that when spouses' caring needs increase, care partners must take on increasing loads of practical work and responsibilities. These partners become lost in the transitions between care work, extended family, and attending to their couplehood.

Maintaining or letting go of couplehood: Perspectives of older male spousal dementia caregivers.

Despite the negative implications for their own health, spouses continue to support each other and maintain their couplehood for as long as possible, including when one of them develops a severe illness. However, with some exceptions, the experiences of older male spousal caregivers have been largely overlooked, and our knowledge of the relational aspects of spousal dementia care is scarce. To respond to this knowledge gap, this article explores the following research questions: How do older male spousal caregivers of wives with dementia talk about changes in their couplehood? What transitions or phases in the relationship can be identified as the caring process evolves and the wife's health continues to deteriorate? To answer these questions, we analyse in-depth interviews with eight purposefully selected men aged 67-92 years old from Iceland and Norway.